True Worth
by BlueRowley
Summary: James Potter grew up pampered by his parents and fawned over by staff and students at Hogwarts. When he applies to become an Auror, he quickly realizes he will have to work harder than he ever had before to prove he can do the job. Written for Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.


Written for Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition: Season 7 – Round 2

Title: True Worth

Team: Arrows

Chaser 3 Prompt: **Write about someone who's always been a leader (explicitly or otherwise) having to learn to follow someone else OR write about a character(s) who's always been fawned on finding themselves having to work for recognition and acceptance.** I chose the latter prompt.

Optional Prompts: 6: color, crimson. 8: creature, sea goat. 13: phrase, holding your head high.

Word Count: 2424

Disclaimer: Do not own Harry Potter

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"James Potter," Rufus Scrimgeour read aloud, glancing up from the parchment and peering through his glasses at the young man sitting across from him.

James nodded with a smile. As a member of the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore had suggested trying out to become an Auror. While a job was the least of his worries – he had his parents' inheritance, after all – the substantial training against the Dark Arts that one received in the Auror program intrigued James enough to give it a whirl. He waited patiently as the yellow-eyed man scoffed and looked back down at the letter of recommendation from the Hogwarts Headmaster himself.

He looks like a lion, James thought amusedly, with his tawny mane and bushy eyebrows.

"What makes you think you qualify for the job?" Scrimgeour asked.

James blinked, clearing his thoughts. He sat up straighter and cleared his throat, his answer scripted in his head.

"During my time at Hogwarts, I was the top of my classes –" James paused as Scrimgeour chuckled and picked up the parchment again, this time, sitting back in his desk chair. James frowned. "I'm sorry, did I misunderstand your question?"

"No, you heard it correctly," Scrimgeour said, ignoring James completely. "Do you realize that we take only the best in this intensive program?

James gave a short laugh. "Then I believe you will find none better than yours truly." James motioned to himself.

"Let's get one thing straight." Scrimgeour leaned forward over his desk. He held up the parchment James had given him. "This tells me nothing."

James jaw dropped as the man crumpled the parchment and tossed it to the waste bin on the other side of the office. James licked his lips as he composed himself and nodded his head in understanding, regardless of his mental confusion.

"All I've learned thus far," Scrimgeour continued, "is that you were a popular student in your time at Hogwarts. Your perfect record tells me you could get away with whatever you desired, spoiled by the staff at Hogwarts, and I'm nearly one-hundred percent sure you were just as spoiled in your home life. I knew Mr. Potter, Senior very well, but even in his elder years, he was an indulgent push-over."

"You got all that by reading a letter of recommendation?" James raised his brows. "What class taught you that and where do I sign up?"

"As you know," Scrimgeour said, ignoring James comment, "a background check is performed on all applicants. I've read all I can about you, but nothing I've read tells me that you should be the next trainee in our program."

"So, is that just a long way of saying 'no, thank you, please leave'?"

"It is a long way of saying you need to prove yourself worthy of becoming the next trainee. And to do that, you will need to go through some character and aptitude tests to see if you're up for the job."

"Great! When do I begin?" James clapped his hands together and rubbed them eagerly.

"Now," Scrimgeour held out a quill, motioning for James to take it.

As soon as James' fingers graced the feather, he felt the familiar pull of a Portkey and he landed on his feet in a large field. It was the length of a football field, filled with obstacles and training equipment. Several aurors were already training in groups together. Directly to the right of the field was a large lake, and a strange creature poked its furry head out of the water.

"Naaa!" it cried.

James smiled at it, kneeling by the bank as he stroked the sea goat's head, marveling at the strange feeling of scales under fur. The brown goat rubbed its cheek in James' hand, mindful of the large horns on its head. It swished its long, blue fish tail through the water, propelling itself closer so to the edge so James could scratch just under its beard. It used its hooves to prop itself up.

"You're a funny looking guy," James commented.

"That is Anchor," Scrimgeour said, "a rescue from a hoarder case. A wizard was breeding and hatching sea goats, manticores, and even a basilisk. Anchor's the only survivor. He's come a long way. He helps with new recruits."

"Naa!" Anchor said, twirling in the water.

"Tough little guy. Now, here is where you will show off your skills. You must prove to me that you can handle the dangerous job an Auror takes on every day. Survive this, and you might just see another day here."

James nodded, flicking his wand to transfigure his robe to a lighter, work out robe. "It is a beautiful day for some exercise. So, what are these character and aptitude tests."

First, Scrimgeour had James run a mile around the football field, which was easy enough. "An Auror must have good endurance," the head Auror had said. Then, James was lying in the grass performing press-ups and crunches before he ran through the obstacle course. He jumped over a tall wooden post, crawled under a net, failed to jump the second fence, struggled through the monkey bars, climbed up and down a steep ladder, and nearly slipped off balance logs. Once he had completed the obstacle course, sweat dripping down his brows, he was then instructed to the magical component of the test.

"An Auror must be able to evade any curses or jinxes thrown at him," Scrimgeour said.

All James had to do was run from one wooden post to the next without being hit by the several spells being thrown at him by three Aurors. He had to run in a zigzag pattern, but halfway to the second post, a Leg-locker jinx struck him to the ground. On his second attempt, he made it three-fourths the way to the second post before he was blasted across the field by a disarming spell. On his third attempt, he took three steps before he was hit by a Levicorpus.

"An Auror must always be aware of his surroundings," Scrimgeour announced at the next test. "An Auror must often chase a dark wizard into a Muggle area, and you do not want to harm an innocent Muggle."

James was all too aware of his surroundings. Every Auror had stopped what they were doing and had crowded around to observe his torture. Their snickering made it hard to focus as he made his way through the makeshift maze. He had to Stupefy any charmed black cloaks that flew in his direction, but avoid any other colored cloaks. He had hit a green and red cloak by mistake, reacting too quickly at the sight of something flying his way. One black cloak smacked into him, wrapping around his face and he fought to pry the material off. The several watching Aurors chuckled.

"An Auror must be able to think on his feet," Scrimgeour said at the next challenge. "Every decision you make could be the difference between life and death."

They were near the edge of the lake once more and James was standing on a wobbly balancing log. Several sharp spearheads were charmed to fly at him, and he used his wand to block them while keeping his balance. Scrimgeour looked at the sea goat in the water.

"A little assistance, Anchor," he told it.

"Naa!" Anchor responded. The sea goat went under the water, raising its tail high up before splashing the water repeatedly with it.

"An Auror must always be prepared for the unexpected."

The water rained down on James, and the balance log became slippery. James wobbled on the log, waving his arms to steady himself. At the same time, sharp spearheads flew at him and he barely managed to keep them from hitting him with a shield charm. One spearhead grazed his arm and he hissed. The sea goat stopped splashing. James glanced up just in time to see the sea goat flying at him, and its horns rammed him in the chest, knocking the breath out of him.

James clutched at his chest, his lungs taking a second to remember how to breathe. The Aurors were laughing, Scrimgeour sneering, and the sea goat shuffled across the land like a seal back to the lake. James closed his eyes as he panted on the ground, biting back an angry yell.

"Confidence," Scrimgeour spoke, the Aurors around him falling silent, "is like the crimson blood pumping life so assuredly through your veins, the very color of it represents courage, power, and passion. It is everything you need to survive in this field, you just have to feel it and believe in it. If you can keep holding your head high against all odds, against the dangers you face, against your enemies, then you will fit right in with the rest of us. If you cannot, then you have no place among our Aurors."

The Aurors applauded and whistled at the short speech.

Scrimgeour towered over James, smirking down at the exhausted man. "I'm feeling pretty generous today, so here's what I'll do. I'll let you take the next three days to recover from this. And then you come back, and you will have one chance to try again. Fail, and you're done. Permanently."

James nodded as he pushed himself to his feet, groaning as he rubbed his chest, ignoring the amused Aurors as he walked away from the field. As he walked past Anchor, he growled under his breath, "I thought we were on the same team."

"Naa!" answered the sea goat.

Back at his house, James applied the last of his healing potion to the cut on his arm from the spearhead. When he finished, he threw the vial across the room, and it shattered against the wall. He sniffed as he wiped an escaped tear from under his eye before standing and punching the cushions of the couch. He gave the assaulted furniture a final kick before walking into his bathroom to wash his face.

Looking up into the mirror, James stared at his reflection, running a hand through his messy hair.

"I deserve that position," he told himself. "I am not some pampered prince – I worked hard at Hogwarts for those marks. And if there's one thing my elderly father taught me, it's that you don't mess with a Potter." James chuckled and stood up tall. "Head high. I've got this. Everything I need runs in my blood – I mean, this is who I am. I was a Gryffindor – house of the brave. I'll show him. You messed with the wrong man, Scrimgeour."

For the next three days, James rose early and ran a mile before breakfast. On his runs, he observed his surroundings, encouraging himself to snap his finger at the sight of a bird and to clap his hands at the sight of a rodent. He joined a wizarding gym and found a coach to push him through all the training equipment before attempting wizard duels, learning under his new coach several techniques. He practiced balancing on his broomstick as he flew around his house, even flying through the rain at one point. He recruited Sirius to help him practice evading the spearheads. While reluctant, Sirius charmed the spearheads to throw themselves at James, who learned to use different spells to send the spearheads flying in different directions and even rebounded some back at Sirius. James smiled; he was ready.

He returned to Scrimgeour at the Auror Department, who raised his eyebrows at the sight of him.

"So, you came back," the man said in a bored voice. "Let's see what you've got."

They used the same quill Portkey to return to the training field. James easily ran the first mile and completed the first obstacle course with little difficulty. Next, he had to evade the curses and jinxes thrown at him as he ran from one post to the next. He ran as fast as he could, jumping and rolling when necessary and made it to the second post on his first attempt.

It was then the Aurors began crowding around again, but this time, they wore impressed expressions as they watched James at the next test – the maze. James avoided the colored robes by sidestepping and turning corners. When the black robes appeared and flew at him, he used stunning spells to stop them all. One robe flew at him from behind, and James rolled away at the last second and stunned the robe.

The crowd of Aurors began to cheer James on as they watched, whistling and calling, "Yeah, Potter!"

Once again, James found himself standing on the wobbly balancing log. He found his balance quickly and sent the spearheads in all directions as they flew at him. When Anchor splashed his tail, James remembered flying through the rain on his broom, and he adjusted his feet as necessary to keep his focus on the spearheads as they were thrown at him once more. He sent the majority of them back at the Auror who cast them, surprising the Auror. The other Aurors applauded while Scrimgeour motioned to Anchor, who leaped out of the water and charged James.

He heard the splash of water and had to spin on the log as Anchor chose to come from a new angle. Putting his wand in his mouth, James snatched the sea goat by the horns when it was close enough, and pulled Anchor down, pinning the animal to the ground. He grabbed his wand and pointed it at the sea goat. "You're dead," James declared, releasing the sea goat.

"Naa!" Anchor said, disgruntled. He gently tapped James' leg with a horn before shuffling back to the water.

The Aurors were loudly clapping, whistling, and applauding for James, who bowed and said, "Thank you, thank you! I'm here all week!"

Everyone but Scrimgeour laughed. James jumped off the balancing log.

"That was impressive, Potter," Scrimgeour said. "You have proved yourself a worthy candidate. I see you took my words seriously. I am pleased to say that you passed the character and aptitude test."

Everyone applauded.

"I'll see you back here in a week for the start of your formal training."

"Thank you," James reached out a hand to shake Scrimgeour, but the man did not accept it.

"You still have a lot of work to do, Potter. You earned your respect among our fellow Aurors, but you'll need to work harder for mine."

"Yes, sir. I'm sure I'll prove myself to you."

Scrimgeour smirked. "I'm sure you will."


End file.
